Bright, vibrant green eyes I would recognize anywhere hovered over my face as Dante of House Viper knelt above me.
“It’s okay, Adrian, you’re okay,” he told me. “You did it.”
And I had. Sanctuary was freed.
Chapter Forty-Five
Dante
“He is more persistent as time goes on and, should I lose myself to the madness, I wouldn’t wish his intrusion upon the minds of any of my kin. But I feel a record must be kept.”
— From a Recently Recovered Letter Signed By Eximius of House Avus
Ihesitated.
Which was exactly the sort of thing that would get you killed in a battle like this. But I couldn’t help it. I was tired, so tired of the killing. And I'd found myself switching sides yet again. So I killed the ones who came for me once the general ordered us onward, but I took no pleasure in it. I tried to stay close to Adrian, to defend her back as I'd been ordered, to bolster her power in whatever way I seemed capable of, but the field was a disaster and I found myself separated from her more often than not.
Once I'd lost count of how many I'd killed, once my arms had begun to grow sore from swinging my sword, once I wrenched the weapon from the dozenth chest cavity of the day, I became aware that something had changed. Men were screaming frombehind me now, some of them had turned around and were facing the wrong way, swinging their swords at something behind us. A second front?
“Dante!”someonewas shouting minutes or maybe hours later. I couldn’t be sure. I was too lost in the battle to notice how much time had passed.
I whirled around, searching for the voice. It was so familiar but it hadn't been Adrian or the general.
"Dante!" they screamed again.
I peered upward, raising a hand to shield my eyes from the harsh sun, and blinked at the rider circling high above me. Ksenia? When had she gotten here? She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be in Pavos.
“Adrian!" she screamed, the panic in her tone pulling me out of my confusion. "Get to Adrian!”
I looked up, blood running down my forehead into my eyes. I couldn’t tell if it was mine. It didn’t matter.
Adrian. My gaze swept right and then left, looking, searching.Get to Adrian.
I saw her at last, on the far side of the field, standing against what could only be a Victor herself. I’d never seen her before, only heard her description from soldiers half in their cups.Chassina. Beautiful, ancient, deadly.
I ran.
Kseniareached her first, Phantom swooping with jaws open wide. At the same moment,Gryfonattacked. But not with steel. My feet slowed, nearly tripping over themselves altogether, as I watched the shimmering blade of light encasing his real blade. He swung and would have decapitatedChassinaif she hadn’t thought to phase at that exact moment.The general's shining blade met nothing but air.
Then a gut-wrenching boom filled the air.
Men around me ducked and fell, screaming as the ground rattled beneath our feet, sand shifting and jumping at the quake. I nearly lost my own footing but forced myself on toward the source of the quake herself. I watched as the wards shattered and Adrian fell. Skidding to a stop beside her, I leaned over her to ensure she was still alive.
She stared up at me, breathing hard.
“It’s okay, Adrian, you’re okay,” I told her. “You did it.”
I pressed a hand to her chest, letting my power rush into her, feeling beneath the skin. The moment I felt the steady heartbeat thrumming against my fingertips, I relaxed. Her eyelids fluttered and then she fell unconscious.
Another flash of light fromGryfon's sword lit the field as Phantom andKseniadove atChassinaagain. The ancient Victor was screaming in outrage as she phased again and again. I didn't stay to watch as she shot into the sky and away,Kseniaand Phantom soaring after her. I just knelt and lifted Adrian, knee almost buckling from an injury I hadn’t even noticed. I glanced down to see the shaft of an arrow protruding from behind my calf. They'd had archers?
Shaking my head to clear it of the pain, I carried Adrian across the field, back toward the friendly line, toward where I hoped the general had had the sense to set up some help.
“The tents are this way,” a gruff voice spat from beside me.
I didn't even look at the general but followed his instructions enough to turn in the right direction.
They'd hidden their encampment behind a jutting sandstone cliff far from the battle. It was a good spot, one I would have picked myself, I admitted begrudgingly.
